The Year in Fashion: We Overuse the Term Supermodel, but Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid Really Are Worthy of the Title

As 2015’s reigning model MVPs, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner have become an inescapable part of the fashion conversation. With their reality-television backgrounds and mammoth social media presence, they are the most visible representatives of the new generation of top models. But are they supermodels?

The word itself conjures images of George Michael videos and leggy beauties strutting the catwalk for Versace, but its definition is largely abstract. It’s easy to recall the women who’ve earned the term over the years—particularly the ’90s glamazons who popularized its usage—but lately it feels as though the title has been handed out to nearly every person who’s ever walked a runway. A quick Google search showcases the way in which supermodel and model have become synonymous: Everyone from pink-haired rookie Fernanda Ly to former Instagram star Essena O’Neill has been called a supermodel in recent months. The designation feels premature.

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Photographed by Tommy Ton

In previous years the grounds for supermodel were relatively clear: Magazine covers, ads, and space in the pop culture consciousness earned a model the title after years of hard work. You couldn’t be labeled super unless you accomplished a series of set career goals, namely the kinds of high-profile jobs that rendered a woman (or man) capable of becoming known in and out of the industry. Serving as both designer muses and brand representatives via campaigns was a must, as was snagging a coveted beauty or fragrance contract. Appearing on the front page of a major publication served to take models to the next level in the years before actresses and celebrities replaced catwalkers as the de facto cover stars. Though the nuts and bolts of climbing the modeling ladder remain largely unchanged—excepting that covers are harder than ever to attain—what truly pushed the supermodels over the edge was their mastery of media beyond fashion.

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Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue, February 2015

Quintessential ’90s stars like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, and Cindy Crawford require no introduction in part because their body of work extended well beyond posing. Whether they were making movies (Campbell), dating Hollywood royalty (Moss), appearing in soda commercials (Crawford), or simply garnering the kind of media infamy that launched a million headlines (Evangelista), the supers had a presence that impacted, or at least captivated, culture as a whole. Looking back, the reign of the supers wasn’t confined to fashion month; it was a multimedia experience that included everything from talk shows to theme restaurants—Fashion Cafe, anyone? What propelled the ’90s supermodels beyond their respective niche was the exposure garnered by their outside endeavors, personal and professional. Their powerful mystique has outlasted countless trends.

If any contemporary models come close, it’s Hadid and Jenner. Though their careers are still relatively new, they’ve managed to tick several of the necessary boxes. When it comes to designers, they’ve got everyone from Riccardo Tisci to Karl Lagerfeld in their corner, and collectively they’ve racked up runway work with a slew of luxury houses. Collaborations with legendary photographers—Steven Meisel, Peter Lindbergh, and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, to name a few—have come their way, as have covers and campaigns. Hadid is currently front and center on prestige glossies like Italian Vogue and Numéro, while Jenner landed one of four French Vogue 95th anniversary covers alongside Turlington, Moss, and Gisele Bündchen. Jenner and Hadid also have beauty deals with Estée Lauder and Maybelline, respectively, as well as a place on the rumored Victoria’s Secret Angel shortlist.

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Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue, November 2015

But what truly makes Kendall and Gigi super material is the interest they generate off-duty. Bombshells next door, they are even better known for their selfie skills than for their work with the pros. Within the industry, the pair have garnered criticism and praise in equal measure. In a fashion landscape that still struggles to acclimate itself to the Internet’s focus on clicks and likes, their brand of success is often derided as antithetical to that of the original supermodel lineup—would Naomi or Linda value user engagement stats as much as a Meisel-lensed editorial? Well, now maybe, but definitely not then.

Outside the industry, it’s a different story. Hadid danced coyly in DJ Calvin Harris’s sultry clip for “How Deep Is Your Love,” while Jenner made a brief foray into cohosting for Canada’s Much Music Video Awards. Magazines and websites document each move the girls make with the kind of fervor typically reserved for movie stars and musicians, with every outfit and rumored new relationship dissected with alacrity.

Their celebrity is unquestionable, and that makes them contenders for the supermodel title—even Karlie Kloss doesn’t have as much name recognition. Whether the heat that surrounds them now will result in the decades-spanning success enjoyed by the likes of Moss and Campbell remains to be seen, but for the moment Hadid and Jenner are the supermodel heirs apparent.

Watch what happens when we give Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid a selfie stick: